Lake Bluff Educator Awarded Kohl Fellowship for Creative Teaching

When it was time for their fifth- and sixth-grade class to study ancient Greece last year, Lake Bluff multiage co-teachers Sachin Pandya and Amy Miller saw an opportunity to engage their students in a cross-disciplinary approach to learning. The students wrote and performed plays in Ancient Greek style, with assistance from the art teacher on crafting the traditional masks.

"It's a constructivist approach to getting kids to create meaning and apply their learning," Pandya said. "It makes learning more real and purposeful."

Their efforts haven't gone unnoticed. After three consecutive years of having their children in the multiage classroom, parents Kathy and Mark Schill nominated Pandya and Miller for fellowships from the Herb Kohl Educational Foundation.

Pandya came out as one of 100 teachers in the state to win the honor and a $2,000 award. 

"At least once a month we tell our kids, you don’t understand just how lucky you are to have that team in that classroom," Kathy Schill said. "We’re dumfounded sometimes by the projects they’re doing. They don’t let the kids’ age hold them back from ambitious learning projects."

After he was nominated, Pandya had to fill out an application for the fellowship, in which he explained his approach to teaching. Having a bachelor's degree in philosophy from the University of Wisconsin in Madison and a master's in museum education from Bank Street Education College in New York, Pandya said he tries to bring in hands-on projects and have his students question the implications of their lessons.

"He really fosters intellectual curiosity in the students," Schill said. "He encourages the kids to make connections between the concepts they’re studying and the world around them, and not just memorize things. It makes them better people because they’re thinking about issues from different sides and considering perspectives they might not otherwise consider."

According to a press release from the Herb Kohl Educational Foundation, the fellows were judged based on "their superior ability to inspire a love of learning in their students, their ability to motivate others, and for their leadership and service within and outside the classroom."

With the fellowship, Pandya gets $1,000 to spend at school, and another $1,000 for himself that he will use for professional development, possibly with the other multiage teachers. For the school allocation, so far Pandya is toying with the idea of helping the students create a play structure, using the math curriculum to plan the construction, and social studies to find a historic style to build with.

Pandya credited the teaching environment of Shorewood, and the multiage set-up of his classroom for giving him the flexibility and encouragement to pursue alternative lessons. In the fifth- and sixth-grade multiage classroom, he and Miller have most of their students for two school-years.

"We do a lot of relationship building over two years, and that provides a lot of flexibility in terms of getting to be creative," Pandya said. "You get to know what a class is like and can take advantage of those strengths and the ways they collaborate. They get a clear sense of what the expectations are and always rise to achieve them."

Panyda has been teaching at Lake Bluff since 2006, spending all but his first year with the multiage class.

"I really view teaching as a profession," Pandya said. "It's demanding and so stimulating; there's always something new to think about."